So the weather turned to absolute crap today. It rained ALL DAY. Didn't stop at all. And the wind was icy. It was colder than Melbourne! There were many comments along the lines of "I bet it's warmer at the MCG right now!!" because Collingwood were playing Carlton while we were out. Bet you were warmer Nan, Pa, Ian and Robyn!!! Please enjoy the photo of me below scowling as mum takes a photo of me in the freezing wind and rain. I title it 'Unimpressed'. Haha.
Today we headed out despite the rain (nothing will stop us seeing everything!) and had breakfast at the Kauppatori. Dad had a donut filled with blueberry jam while mum and I shared a punnet of blueberries. I'm on a partial diet because I've become a bit of a chunky monkey while sitting on the bus so much (I just feel yuck anyway!!). So I am snacking less and trying to eat better! Of course if there is a cultural dish to try I will never say no. More just eating meals instead of snacks all the time!!
We caught the 10am ferry to Suomenlinna Fortress. It took about 20 minutes. When we arrived it was of course raining!! We started off by walking around a bit and then joined a walking tour. We learned a fair bit about the history and purposes of the fortress and island. Suomenlinna fortress consists of four islands. In 1748 when Sweden controlled Finland and it was part of their empire, they decided to build the fortress to maintain their control over the Baltic Sea. A guy called Ehrensvärd designed and constructed the fortress. In 1809 the Russians overthrew the Swedish and took over Finland. Then in 1917 the allies helped Finland gain it's independence and break free from Russia's rule, but as I mentioned yesterday this caused a civil war to occur which lasted a few months. Over the years due to the changes of hands, Suomenlinna fortress has been called Sveaborg (Swedish), Viapori (Russian) and now Suomenlinna fortress.
Even though the weather was horrid we powered on. We joined an 11am walking tour which walked around outside. I made the stupid mistake of going '13 degrees! That's not THAT cold!' And wearing a thin $8 kmart top with a cardigan and raincoat. BIG MISTAKE. Definitely investing in more layers from now on, think I got a bit excited after 5 degree weather in Norway...! But anyway I toughened up and put up with it. Our guide was really good and we walked around some of the complex including Ehrensvärd's tomb, Russian cannons (this part was the coldest!) and some walls and tunnels.
After the tour, we went back to a cafe we had passed and enjoyed amazing and hot salmon soup with bread and butter. Then we all shared a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of rhubarb cake. After these few weeks in Scandinavia and Finland I will have mega eyesight forever due to all this fish!! All of it was delicious. My favourite part of the cafe was the fast wifi that allowed me to listen to the first quarter of Collingwood vs Carlton hahaha. Glad to hear that only 40,000 showed up due to the terrible Sunday night timeslot in the rain. Maybe the money hungry AFL will learn to put the footy on when the fans can actually attend without falling asleep at their desks at work on Monday!! Speaking of footy, was exciting to wake up this morning to find out that in his first senior game for the bulldogs Mitch Honeychurch kicked a goal with his first kick! He went to the school I both attended and did placement at. Good on him!!
After lunch we went to the Ehrensvärd Museum which was about the man himself and the building of the fortress. Then we went to the Suomenlinna Museum which was about Swedish and Russian control and the history of the fortress. We had a quick look at the Suomenlinna church (church count = 8, not many yet!!) and then boarded the ferry back. Quite rough on the way back!!
We had an early dinner at the Kauppatori and shared a plate of reindeer meatballs and salmon paella with veggies and potatoes - yum! Hit he spot perfectly.
Now we are watching Holland vs Mexico and packing up tonight as we leave for Tallinn, Estonia by ferry quite early tomorrow morning! Those from my Topdeck tour have been there the past two days and recommended us two good restaurants to eat at - one is next door to our apartment!! And as it turns out they will be in St Petersburg and Warsaw when we are for one night in each, so I think I will be joining them for a couple more nights out! My tour was one part of a larger, four part tour. About 12 of them are doing the whole tour so will be good to see them!!
See you in Estonia everyone, I'm so excited as I've wanted to go there since I saw it on 'The Amazing Race' in season 15 in 2009.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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